Former Electronic Gaming Monthly editor-in-chief Dan "Shoe" Hsu has been writing about his opinions and experiences in game journalism since his departure from Ziff Davis earlier this year in a new blog called Sore Thumbs. Hsu has talked about his own experiences dealing with game publisher PR reps but the latest entry isn't written by Hsu but by an anonymous PR rep at a "Big Publisher" who basically confirms what some may have guessed; publishers can sometimes pay hardball with media outlets to get the best coverage for their games.

This person admits, "I have pulled ad buys in protest of what I felt were unfair review scores. I have spoken to the "boss" of publications before, and complained about certain journalists. I have "banned" certain media outlets from getting pre-release access to games, because of previous unfavorable coverage." This person defends such actions because they just want journalists to give their titles solid coverage, saying. "Any good PR people working for a game publisher understand what a developer goes through, and should fight hard to get the game looked at by journalists fairly."